Posted by SULE BELLO on October 25, 2009 at 11:59pm
Bankole to Niger Delta: your leaders failed youHouse of Representatives Speaker Dimeji Bankole yesterday hit Niger Delta leaders hard, saying they should carry the can for the crisis in the region, which he said they failed to develop inspite of the huge funds they got in the last 10 years.He spoke at a national summit on Post Amnesty Confidence Building in Kaduna.To Bankole, it is true that Nigerians were not fair to the Niger Delta before the advent of the current democratic dispensation, but events in the last 10 years have changed the course of action in the region."If we are to be honest with ourselves, we have not been fair to the Niger Delta. We have been unfair to the Niger Delta. The Niger Delta has been producing the funds with which we’ve been running this country for so many years."The funds we used to build Abuja where I came from this morning, those lovely roads and bridges and offices came from the funds from the Niger Delta. I have not seen such bridges and roads in the Niger Delta. I haven’t. Until those roads and infrastructure come to the Niger Delta, well, we’ll continue to put the request on the front burner of Nigerian politics," he said.But, the Speaker argued that state governments in the Niger Delta collect much more from the Federation Account than all the northern states put together, pointing out that Bayelsa State, for example, collects almost 10 times more than Lagos State. Development in Lagos State has shown that good governance pays after all, said the Speaker.He said the past neglect of the Niger Delta was changing for good, adding: "In the last 10 years, there has been tremendous improvement in the governance, financing of the Niger Delta. In the last 10 years, indigenes of the Niger Delta have been operating at the top level of governance in Nigeria."Today, the Vice President is of Niger Delta origin. Today, the head of service that is the engine room of the government is from the Niger Delta. Should I go on? The Chief of Defence Staff is also from the Niger Delta. I should carry on? Until a few months ago, even the Inspector General of Police was from the Niger Delta. Even when it comes to economic, security and politics, Niger Delta is at the top."For some of you who have been to Lagos in the past one year, I’m sure you’ll notice the difference. And I’m not shy to appreciate that there is a difference in Lagos. It’s good governance."Like I said, there are differences in Nigerian government today. But I’ll tell you, His Excellency, the governor of Bayelsa State collects 9.2 times more money than Lagos State from the Federal Allocation. That’s a recent development. Don’t compare it with 20 years ago."I know that Rivers State collects more money than the entire North Eastern part of Nigeria, today. I know that Akwa Ibom State collects more money than the entire North Western part of Nigeria today. I know that Bayelsa State collets more money than the entire North Central states of Nigeria…"Nigeria’s budget for this year was around N3trillion. However, by the time you add the budget of the Niger Delta states alone, it is over N1.5trillion. There are may be over 140 to 150milion people in Nigeria. Niger Delta as about 17million; the remaining 130million is outside the Niger Delta."Those are the facts that 10 to 20 years from now, people are going to ask me, people are going to ask the governor of Bayelsa, people are going to ask all of us here that what did we do when these facts were being put on the table..."Bankole, who said that the Niger Delta people should begin to ask their leaders how the resources accruing to them are being spent, added: "When they start abusing me on the headlines tomorrow, just remember what I said here. Now, we have an opportunity. With these funds, there must be a difference because the people of the Niger Delta would begin to ask questions of their leaders on how these monies were spent."We may have excuses in the past that we were unfair to the Niger Delta. But those are no longer excuses today. Because we will ask you. When they ask me, I’ll say ‘go and ask them’. What did they do with that money?"Nobody’s going to come from Abeokuta to tell you what you do with your money in the creeks. If anybody is telling you that, he’s lying. You should ask yourselves about how your money was spent."And when they ask those questions, we better have answers for them. Not only have we been unfair to the Niger Delta, we have been unfair to the North East; we have been unfair to the North West; we’ve been unfair to the North Central, we have been unfair to the South East. We have been unfair to Anambra."Bankole’s view is that what is happening in the Niger Delta is not different from what is happening in the other parts of the country, "except that when the young people of the Niger Delta feel the thing directly, they react.""It didn’t just start today, they have been reacting gradually for so many years," he added.To the Speaker, there is no solution to the Nigerian issue, Niger Delta or otherwise, in oil.His words: "Oil will not produce the solution. It’s very simple. The technology involved in the development of oil cannot employ Nigerians. If it cannot employ Nigerians, it cannot solve the Nigerian problem."
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